Have you ever been searching for a product and found an article about it on the internet that you felt was so good that you just had to share it with your friends? Chances are you did, because it’s really easy to find great content online that will interest and inspire you.

When you share something online that’s interesting or helpful to others, they may come back to you with a favor – something that you might need for your own business, or something that could be useful or entertaining for you.

This type of ‘word-of-mouth’ marketing is called online word-of-mouth marketing, and it’s a powerful tool for building your audience and connecting with potential customers. If you’re looking to grow your business, you should consider exploring this option further.

Why Online Word-of-Mouth Marketing Is So Effective

The main reason why online word-of-mouth marketing is so effective is because it’s so easy to do. When someone finds something useful or entertaining on the internet, they usually don’t have  a lot of time to go around sharing it with their friends and family. So, if you’re able to gain their trust and interest in your product or service, you’ve got yourself a ready-made audience that may one day become your customers. 

When someone finds value in your product or service, they’re more likely to talk about it with their friends and family. This, in turn, may lead to them buying your product or using your service, and eventually referring others to do the same.

By putting yourself in your audience’s shoes for a moment, let’s say that you’ve found value in a product or service that helps others with their social media marketing. You’ll probably want to tell your friends about this, and maybe even share an online article or video about it. However, for the sake of argument, let’s say that you’ve only got a small social media following and you’re looking to drive audience engagement.

If you were to put yourself in your audience’s shoes and consider what they might do, you’d probably want to create something that would help them engage with the content that you’re sharing. This is why online word-of-mouth marketing is so effective and why you should consider trying it out yourself.

The Importance Of Online Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Aside from being an easy and effective way to engage with and grow your audience, online word-of-mouth marketing can also have some serious advantages. Here are just a few of them.

• It’s free. While you’ll eventually need to spend money on ads if you want to gain real traction with this strategy, the cost is almost always negligible – especially compared to the value that it generates in terms of brand recognition and word of mouth marketing.
• It’s global. While your target audience may be located in one country or area, the internet makes it possible for you to spread your reach and draw in potential customers from all over the world.
• It’s measurable. With some metrics in place, such as the number of clicks and traffic, you’ll be able to accurately track the results of your online word-of-mouth marketing strategy.
• It’s flexible. You’ll be able to change tactics and adjust your strategy based on feedback and new information. This is especially beneficial in terms of creating viral or meme-worthy content that will engage your audience and encourage them to talk about your product or service. Plus, you can always go back and revisit this content at a later date if you decide that this was a more effective strategy than the one that you initially tried out.

How Can Online Word-of-Mouth Marketing Benefit You?

If you’re looking to grow your business, you might be wondering how online word-of-mouth marketing can benefit you. Here are just a few ways that it can.

• It can provide you with free brand awareness. If someone finds value in your product or service and decides to talk about it online, this will undoubtedly increase your reach and brand recognition. If you want to grow your business, this type of tactic can provide you with an advantage, because more likely than not, people will have heard of you and your company before. This is called word of mouth marketing, and it’s a free method of gaining brand awareness. This is especially beneficial if you’re looking to expand your customer base or gain more business in the future.
• It can make your marketing more cost-effective. Since the cost of generating a good chunk of content is almost nil, you may be able to save a decent amount of money on your marketing budget by using this tactic. Plus, you don’t necessarily need to focus on driving traffic to your site and getting them to spend something, because you can simply create content and let people find you. If this type of marketing strategy appeals to you, then you should definitely give it a try.
• It can help you establish your credibility. If people find value in your product or service and decide to talk about it, this will give you the opportunity to establish credibility with your audience. As we mentioned above, word of mouth marketing is one of the most effective types of marketing there is, because it’s free and it builds credibility simply by existing. When you’re looking to grow your business, building credibility is one of the  most essential things that you need to do, because people won’t necessarily think highly of your product or service until they know you. If you want to learn more, then you should definitely check out this blog post from HubSpot on how to build credibility with your customers.
• It can make your business more appealing to the general public. When someone finds value in your product or service and wants to tell their friends about it, this will inevitably lead to them becoming more interested in your business. If you want to attract the interest of potential customers, then you should definitely consider exploring this option further.
• It can help you identify areas for improvement. If you’re looking to grow your business and establish yourself as an expert in your industry, then this type of marketing can help you identify areas for improvement. For instance, if you’re a consultant working with businesseses, and you identify that they’re not engaging on social media in a consistent manner, then you can explore this with them and see what they have to say. The point is that this type of marketing can help you become a better business for it.
• It can make your competition more transparent. Since your product or service may be quite similar to that of your competitors, this type of marketing can make their business much more transparent. Anyone can go online and research the products and services of various companies and compare them to what you offer, so if you want to gain an advantage in terms of sales, you should definitely consider exploring this option.
• It can make you more memorable. If you’re looking to grow your business or establish yourself as an expert in your industry, then this type of marketing can make you more memorable. For instance, if you’re a fashion expert and you help a customer choose their next piece of clothing, you may find that they remember you and your company because of your helpfulness.

The Key To Effective Online Word-of-Mouth Marketing

To make the most of this type of marketing, you’ll obviously need to choose your hashtags and ensure that your chosen keywords are included in your content in some form. However, beyond these basic requirements, you don’t necessarily need to do much. Just  create valuable content, and let the results speak for themselves.